The Ukrainian Revolution took place in February 18th to 23rd in 2014. The revolution took placed in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. It resulted in the ousting of the Ukrainian president Viktor Yanokovych, a change in the Ukrainian political system, and a restoration of their constitution. The problems that led to this revolution began with the disbandment of the Soviet Union. When Ukraine became an independent country again it was faced with many hardships such as corruption, mismanagement, and lack of economic growth. In the 2000’s Ukraine began to have a closer relationship with the European Union. Ukraine hoped to achieve an association agreement that would fund Ukraine if they would liberalise reforms. While president Yanokovych initially agreed to sign the agreement, he refused to do so last minute, and instead signed a treaty along with a multi-billion dollar loan with Russian. This caused many protests in the capital of Kiev.

The protest were at first were relatively calm. However that abruptly ended when protesters and police clashed on February 18th. 20,000 protesters made their way to the Ukrainian Parliament in hopes of revising the Ukrainian Constitution. Police officers dressed in riot gear blocked the way. The confrontation became violent and the once peaceful protesters became revolutionaries. The city became a warzone as the protesters made their way to the Parliament building, and the police trying to bring the protesters under control. The police at first used rubber bullets to stop the protesters but soon changed to live ammunition as well as tear gas and flash grenades. The police had snipers in buildings and on the streets to pick off protesters armed only with makeshift shields, crude weapons, and makeshift explosives. The violence only got worse from that point.

The next day the police began to set up checkpoints, set up restrictions on public transportation, and closed schools. The city of Kiev was put into a state of emergency. The violence among police and protesters only increased. Protesters built barricades to shield themselves from the constant fire of the police. Many buildings along the streets of Kiev were turned into hospitals managed by volunteer doctors. The number of killed, both police and protester  vary from 70 to 100. The number that were injured was over 1,000. Various news teams on the scene gave coverage of the turmoil that was happening at the time. By February 22nd the protesters had control of Kiev, and Yanukovych had fled the city into eastern Ukraine. The Parliament then unanimously voted to impeach president Yanukovych.

The aftermath of the revolution was met with many obstacles, most evident the pro-russian separatists in the south-eastern region of the country. A stand-off with the Russians over the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, which ended with the Russians gaining both territories. However the newly appointed leader of the Ukrainian government signed the European Union association agreement and agreed to reform the country’s judiciary and political system, and its financial and economical policies. Rebuilding Kiev was also a challenge that faced the Ukrainians but over time the city looks just as it has been. Ukraine now has a second chance to be a country that is much less corrupt and better for its people.

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Resources - 
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26248275
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Ukrainian_revolution#Casualties
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromaidan